Ragnarok: Firing Up for the MCU’s End-game

The boyfriend and I lead semi-chaotic lives in our nerdy little realm here, and sometimes it gets easy to forget about the little things. That’s why we set up a date night fund between the two of us, so we always have a way to spend some time out and about together.

Last week, we used it to go see Thor: Ragnarok.

It had already been out for a week at that point, but the theatres around here were all sold out. Of course, as the person who avoids watching trailers too far in advance because of unreasonable excitement, I had been very carefully avoiding anything that might ruin the anticipation.

Tip: If you haven’t seen it yet, stop what you’re doing, go see it, and then pick up reading again at this point. There be spoilers ahead.

What I thought of Ragnarok

Marvel’s M.O. has been to do three feature films for each of its big characters, and as I pointed out earlier, the third movie is usually the game-changer.

That is exactly what happened with Ragnarok.

Overall, I thought it was incredibly well done. There were a few things that I had been expecting, like the whole Guardians-meets-Chuzzle vibe from the poster, and a few things I hadn’t.

For example, the logo used for Ragnarok is a throwback to the original comic art for the storyline, which mixes in a little Tron sensation for the modernization of Thor from his traditional Viking god ways.

It fit really well with the story, since you know, it’s about Thor leaving behind his traditional ways for a whole new fighting style.

Big monster!

Marvel has been experimenting with smaller team-ups for a while now, even before the Avengers hit the big screen. Remember those big roles Black Widow had in Iron Man 2 and the Winter Soldier?

This time, Marvel decided to play around with the Hulk, the only one who can really go toe-to-toe with the puny gods of Asgard.

The movie did an amazing job of personifying the Hulk, not just as the Hyde of Dr. Banner, but as his own character. Which, when you’ve been the superstar of an intergalactic coliseum for two years, you kind of deserve.

He actually converses, thinks, and makes conscious decisions, which is not something he’s been capable of in the past.

Okay, let’s get back on track now.

The goddess of death

The premise of the movie is that Thor needs to save his home world from Hela. Easy, right?

Well, maybe not.

Hela was really something else. Yes, I knew going in we were looking at the goddess of death, but I didn’t realize we were talking about Katarina from League turning into a green moose lady of doom who can spawn blades from nothing.

She’s the epitome of destruction, and I can’t help but wonder if she serves a greater purpose.

When she was introduced, she wasn’t explicitly named as the one Thanos was, well, interested in, but let’s look at the facts for a second. She’s a lady, she’s of death, and she’s possibly the most destructive force in the entire MCU.

The movie didn’t do anything to confirm my theories, but the hallmark postscript scene showed Thanos’ ship looming over Asgard after her defeat.

The timing and location were just too convenient to believe that Hela wasn’t the one Thanos was chasing—and if she wasn’t, I’m not sure I want to see how much more powerful Lady Death is than the lady who solo-killed the entire Asgardian army in a matter of minutes.

A vision of the future

It wouldn’t be a Marvel movie if there wasn’t some degree of sacrifice. In the case of Ragnarok, it was all tangible losses.

After Hela steals Thor’s thunder, Thor is left confused and directionless, which is where the relationship with his father came into play. We’ve seen their interactions before, but this movie did an amazing job of portraying the real relationship between Thor and his father.

In fact, after another tangible sacrifice, Thor ended up as the mirror image of his father—with an eyepatch. But did you notice it was on the opposite eye of Odin’s eyepatch?

To me, that hints at the opposite approaches the two take in guiding Asgard. It also tied in nicely with the climax of the movie, where Thor didn’t see the true vision and purpose of Ragnarok until he had lost his eye. His father saw one side, he saw the other, and it took the two of them to make it happen.

It also wouldn’t be a Marvel movie if someone didn’t learn something and concede a little bit of what they were before.

In Thor’s case, his hang-up has been Loki. He’s spent the entirety of his saga being taken in by Loki simply because they were brothers, and it was getting a little predictable—even for Thor.

In fact, following a delightful mini-monologue on the subject, Thor turns the tables on Loki, leaving him flabbergasted—and showing that Thor is capable of adapting, which maybe hasn’t been his strong suit until now.

Those are just a few of my garbled thoughts on Thor: Ragnarok, and overall, it’s definitely my favourite Thor movie so far. What did you think of it?